A Liverpool diplomat has looked back on his 20-year-plus career.
As part of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Martin O’Neill, who is originally from Edge Hill, has led a rapid deployment team to Tunisia to provide support after 30 British tourists were killed in a terror attack and helped those who were impacted by the Pandang earthquake in 2009 and the Icelandic volcanic eruption. Martin also played a role in dealing with the aftermath of the bombing of a Russian airliner in Egypt.
Since joining the FCDO in 2001, the 51-year-old has had overseas postings in Japan, the UAE, Estonia and the Phillippines, but following a move from Manila to Toyko in 2020, Martin took up his current role as Her Majesty’s Consul, leading the embassy’s support to British people living in or travelling to Japan and South Korea. However, the role he is in now isn’t one he always pictured himself in.
